NASCAR just held their Green Summit this week in Chicago where I was lucky enough to represent EPA with an impressive group of change makers that included, of all people, Al Gore!

I’ve heard a few people question why EPA is helping NASCAR, but I like to think it fits into the story of the future, a story where all of us are on a continuous improvement path toward an America that’s built to last.

I just read Daniel Pink’s new book, To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, and he talks about the ways people are moved to take action. One way he describes is to tell stories the way Pixar tells stories, so here we go. Using the Pixar way, here’s one way to tell the story of the future:

Once upon a time, we built a strong and rising middle class powered almost entirely by fossil fuels, not realizing that our over reliance on them would hurt us in the long run. Every day for generations, we burned lots of fossil fuels to make stuff, build stuff, eat stuff, go places and have fun. Year after year, auto racing became more popular and NASCAR became part of the fabric of American sport. Then one day, everything started to change and more of us ended up finding new ways to get ahead using fewer fossil fuels and creating less waste. NASCAR joined the effort to improve their own practices, and help their fans learn new ways to save money, that also protect people’s health and the planet. Because of that, more kids learned new innovative skills and had better health. Also because of that, more people found better jobs and created their own businesses to make things that solved problems and added joy to life. Finally, we realized that by enlisting every American and every organization to work together, we could build a low carbon, low waste society that will create a rising and thriving middle class for this and every generation.

About the author: Matt Bogoshian is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Senior Policy Counsel in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention where he leads EPA and Obama administration efforts to help manufacturers and their supply chains profit by adopting more sustainable practices while harnessing the power of consumers to demand smarter products and services. Mr. Bogoshian combines strengths of efforts such as the E3: Economy, Energy and the Environment framework, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge, the Design for the Environment (DfE) program, the EnergyStar Industrial program and the SmartWay Partnership to optimize collective benefit for American manufacturers and their communities. Bogoshian helps lead the President’s Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership initiative, designed to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing and create jobs in communities across the country.

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I never imagined myself becoming a NASCAR fan. But sure enough, I find myself watching races on the weekends. It all started because my fiancée is an avid NASCAR fan (his favorite driver is #39, Ryan Newman…. I didn’t even need to Google Ryan’s name to find out his number!). At first, I actually teased him quite a bit about it. But as the months went on, I found myself knowing drivers names, numbers, and sponsors as well as trying to predict a winner before each race. I know more about NASCAR now than I ever imagined I would.

So when I found out that EPA was working with NASCAR (and signed an MOU with them on Monday), I jumped at the chance to be involved. I knew my fiancée would be proud, if not a bit jealous. NASCAR and EPA will be working together to continue to green the sport. Since NASCAR has such a huge national fan base, they can help communicate environmental information in ways that reach a large audience.

NASCAR and EPA will work together to highlight DfE products. Additionally, NASCAR can use DfE products at their facilities and at racing events, to show fans that using DfE products is an easy, cost-effective and important way that they can protect the health of their families and pets, clients and co-workers, and the planet.

My fiancée has been trying to convince me to go to a race, and I’ve resisted. Now with the newly formed partnership between EPA and NASCAR, attending a race this year is on my to-do list!

About the author: Melanie Vrabel is a chemist and project manager in the Design for the Environment Program. She works very closely with product manufacturers to help them formulate the safest products possible.

Editor's Note:
The opinions expressed here are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.

Please share this post. However, please don't change the title or the content. If you do make changes, don't attribute the edited title or content to EPA or the author.